Return of the Dragon Tamers: The Plague of Ogual

[Soulserenity20]

[btn=modc|https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/return-of-the-dragon-tamers-the-plague-of-ogual-ooc.52827/]OOC[/btn][btn=modc|http://www.soulroleplays.com/]Information Site[/btn][btn=modc|https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/micro-return-of-the-dragon-tamers-courting-thread.154410/]Courting Thread[/btn]

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• 
  
  
  
  
  
  Return of the Dragon Tamers
  The time has come for the dragons and the humans to join forces once again...​
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Hunting the Blackshire Stags
  
  Narien, Illyria, Avren, Pomona
  
  Reverie, Xylia, Alder, Saira
  
  ​
  ​
• 
  
  Terria has been rescued and returned safely to the meadow. Her retrieval came at the cost of another talented tamer: Goliath, and his dragon Hezekiah. Terria slumbers in sickness of the body and the mind even as Merrik has spent more than a week at her side, healing her thrice daily, doing everything in his power to bring her back to the Order.
  
  The party that ventured to eastern Galidus to sort out the issues in Kibran returned with a new stranger who turned out to be the bondmate of the Valor dragoness, Andraste. Alder Grey has joined the ranks of the Order and now works to find his place.
  
  Shortly after the Order's reuniting in the meadow, a council was called the a vote was ordered for the army's next tactical move. With the votes in, the Order is now set on unlocking the memories of the strange man Bren and travelling to Galidus to meet with the new king, Kylvest Brohn of Trespa while simultaneously meeting with the People of Dragons elders.
  
  Before the Order sets off once more, they are taking time to return to their training at the meadow and heal their hearts and bodies. At current, Merrik has chosen to mix things up and brought the Order out to the north-eastern woods to hunt for Obsidian Nova's favorite game: Blackshire Stags. After a great deal of drama in Kibran regarding Merrik's decisions on leadership, he hopes that the Order will begin to sort itself out within the ranks and grow to trust each other more deeply in a time when trust among comrades is a necessity.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Character Hex Colors
  [spoili]
  Aerarya is #800080
  Saira is #33cccc
  Merrik is Red
  Nova is Black with Shadow and Italic.
  Avren is Green
  Viridian is Yellow Green with Italic.
  Terria is Dark Azure
  Taega is Medium Gray with Glow and Italic.
  Requiem is Maroon
  Aleria is Dark Green.
  Agni color is #999999
  Narien is #0092b3
  
  [/spoili]​
  Soulserenity20 ---- Merrik Tetra ----- Obsidian Nova, Nightmare Dragon
  Soulserenity20 -----Terria Tetra ----- Ataegana Kuu'iah, Lunar Dragon
  Soulserenity20 -----Avren Lebram ----- Viridian, Forest Dragon
  Rainjay -----Saira Rinien ----- Aerarya, Atmosphere Dragon
  Rainjay -----Illyria Rowena Renthir ----- Mirazh, Desert Dragon
  Firejay1 -----Narien Ki'ila ----- Angi, Arcane Dragon
  White -----Rèverie Gray ----- Celeste, Celestial Dragon
  Mowkie ----- Pomona Ayelet Muldell ----- Katla, Vanity Dragon
  Mowkie ----- Alder Balthazar Grey ----- Andraste, Valor Dragon
  Crimson77 ----- Xylia Kalei Iwalani ----- Deventh, Swamp Dragon
  
• 
  Tetra Estate - Coliseum, 8:17am
  
  The morning air was cool and crisp, the last signs of Winter nipping at Spring's hold on the lands. There was a deep fog rolling in over the eastern forest, blanketing the ancient trees with an eerie, chilling veil. A pair of deep green eyes scanned the surrounding landscape from a hundred feet in the air. Their owner felt no fear, no discomfort of the altitude, being as much at home in the skies as he was on the earth. While the height and the crisp morning air did not bother him, a deep concern was festering within the corners of his mind. It was not unusual for worry and concern to waft about in his thoughts, but the intensity of today's concern was unprecedented.
  
  There was a silence that surrounded him, cocooning him in its peaceful tendrils, broken only by the steady whoosh of powerful wings. With each heavy downbeat, the man in the sky would exhale, taking in the pristine air the ancient woods provided and letting it out in a meditative manner. His dark hair swayed gently, not by breeze, but by wing-beat. The man was concentrating on the legend that was about to begin a hundred feet below him. The man was sorting out his thoughts, organizing his concerns, perfecting his plan of action. Worrying. Concerning himself. Stressing.
  
  The mind is of no use when it is tangled and knotted with stress and worry.
  
  Merrik Tetra opened his eyes as a wave of reassurance swept into his mind, settling what had been stirred up, putting his last lingering thoughts in the right place, and shouldering the mental burden that so commonly threatened to crush him.
  
  "Your wisdom could not have been more welcome. But to execute concern would be unwise. Today the stories of the world will shift mid-sentence, a new chapter forcing its way into a tale of growing darkness. Today the legends of old will be reborn, history repeating itself at the hands of peril upon these lands." Though his lips did not move and no sound rang out into the air, his words found their way into the mind that commanded the wings beating powerfully at Merrik's sides.
  
  The man in the sky was not alone.
  
  A hundred feet above the Tetra Estate, a creature of myth lingered in the air, sustained by the grip of its thick wing membranes on the cool morning air. The creature was massive, larger than any common animal of the lands, and it wore a cloak of scales as black as a night sky devoid of any stars. Blood red eyes that made every onlooker feel like prey blinked slowly as they stared at the distant fog bank. It's vast wings, cloaked in the same obsidian scales that coated the beast's muscular body, wore rings, red as the most scalding lava.
  
  The creature was a dragon. A Nightmare Dragon, to be specific; a beast of legends and fairy tales from a time long ago, long before the memories of even the oldest human. For hundreds of years the sound of heavy wing-beats parting the air could not be heard in these lands, or any other for that matter. For hundreds of years, the great draconic race was thought to have been extinct, perished by the hands of elves or man or even time itself.
  
  Few would believe their eyes. But Merrik Tetra would not so much as blink at the site of such a creature, for the dragon of nightmares and terror that claimed the skies was his dragon, and Merrik was its human. They were soulmates, best friends, companions, one.
  
  More than 2 decades ago, when Merrik was just a little boy, he was brought down into a damp, dark cellar in the depths of his family's manor. There, he received an egg. From within that egg came a voice, though not one any other person would hear, unless it so chose to be heard. Within that egg was a hatchling nightmare dragon, the same drake upon which Merrik sat at that very moment. The dragon was given to him by a strange, mysterious old man who called himself The Oracle. This man changed Merrik's life, shifted his path of fate to one of severity and ultimatum. His life for the next two years was leading up to this moment, this cool spring morning.
  
  Today, Merrik was going to form an army, a re-birthed order of old, summoned up again to bring forth a the great protectors of Illos. Today, Merrik was going to change the lives of a group of individuals, the very same individuals that stood a hundred feet below him in the center of a coliseum. Behind the doors that lined the walls of the coliseum were more dragons. More disbelief shattered by flesh and blood. Two years ago, Merrik had once again been summoned into that musky cellar where The Oracle appeared once agian. This time, Merrik didn't receive one egg; he received an entire clutch, each one a different color, texture and size.
  
  From those eggs hatched dragons, one of each of the draconic species, apart from the Nightmares. Those hatchlings had spent the last two years of their lives growing and learning from Merrik and his dragon, Obsidian Nova. They were being trained and prepared for this very day, this moment. Each of the drakes behind those heavy wooden doors lacked a piece of its soul, a part of it that could never have been filled. Not until now.
  
  The group of people standing, uncertain in the middle of the coliseum, were chosen long ago, though they could not have known it. The Oracle had selected them at birth, when their souls entered into their bodies with their first breath. Each soul chosen, was the missing half of one of the dragons below. And today, those two souls would collide and fuse together, changing the fate of Illos forever.
  
  "They know so little of what is to come." Came Merrik's soundless voice from his own mind into the dragon's.
  The less they know, the less they can fear and fight what is to be. Though we know that each of the humans below is the soulmate of one of our yearlings, the yearlings do not know for certain. They believe that these are mere potential candidates for the bond. They will test them just as a wild dragon would have tested the first of the dragonlords so long ago. The humans will pass these tests, of this we have been assured by The Oracle. Everything is set into motion.
  
  Let their oblivion be their guide, for both dragon and human. Let the bond work in its natural ways, it will give them strength in the long run. The humans MUST prove themselves to their drake, not only for tradition's sake, but to unlock the power that hides within their blood. Tamers are not made, they are born at the very moment a dragon's soul awakens. In that moment, the two become connected, separated only by distance and time. The tamers have an ancient magic within their veins, though they do not know it yet.
  
  Today, the bond with unlock that magic and change their lives forever. We should not delay it any longer.
  
  Obsidian Nova had a way about him that commanded submission and trust. There was no one else in the world that could calm and reassure Merrik in such a way as the black dragon. Nova had an ancient wisdom to him that came with being a direct descendant of one of the first bonded dragons of the Order of Old. Though merely 21 by age, the dragon's wisdom went on for centuries. Merrik agreed without a word or thought.
  
  With perfect intent-directed synchrony, the dragon descended, lowing the pair and coming to rest on a great stone perch that sat at the head of the coliseum. As the dragon's talons touched down on the stone and his great wingspan retracted to a resting position, Merrik stood up from his place at the base of Nova's neck and slipped down off the dragon's back without a sliver of difficulty, landing on the thick, stone perch below.
  
  The attention of the visitors in the centre of the round mass of earth focused on him. Some eyes shone with excitement, others with a sly intent, and others with a plain annoyance. There was too much personality within that circle for Merrik to handle all at once. He silently thanked the gods of old that he didn't have to get up close and personal with the entire group just yet. For now, the focus of attention was on dragons, and Merrik was completely at home in the realm of dragons.
  
  "You have all be told of your purpose for standing her today. I can understand if some or many of your minds linger in disbelief, this is an event of dreams and myth. But make no mistake, you are here to become heroes, legends, and leaders. You are here to become one with beasts of old, powerful creatures not seen in these lands for hundreds of years." He walked to the end of the perch, balancing casually on the round, stone hold.
  
  "The doors that surround you are the temporary dens of the dragons of Illos. The doors will open in a few moments. You must all be strong, be fast, and be brave. Today, you become dragon tamers."
  Then, Merrik's deep green eyes became twice as vibrant as any human's and he swirled his right index finger in a curious manner, concentration clear on his expression. The doors slid open, lifting up to reveals cascading plumes of steam as the temperature difference made itself apparent. The cool morning air welcomed the sound of wingbeats, too many to count, as a mass of dragons shot out of the dark spaces and soared up into the air. Flames of every color decorated the skies, scaled beasts of every shape, size and color bolted about before peeling off from the group and honing in on select individuals.
  
  One of the dragons shot a jet of colored flame down at the ground, nearing searing one of the soon-to-be tamers. The tests had begun.
  
  Merrik and Nova watched silently as the young dragons they had raised from hatchlings attacked, questioned, chased, scared, and tested the group of visitors. Each was seeking a human worthy of their soul, of their life, of their bond. Each would find a human, though they did not know it, and until then, they would test their worthiness endlessly. Merrik pitied the men and women below, for they had not been informed of what the bond was, nor were they informed of the fact that the tests the dragons subjected them to would look more like an attack than anything, despite the fact that the drakes would not actually harm them. This pity went away mere moments after it arrived as Nova's presence in his soul shifted with the drake's emotion. Any amount of terror and confusion was worth the bond of dragon and tamer.
  
• 
  
  Combat Event Guide
  +Steps+
  

  1. GM Scenario Introduction.​
  2. Player Response. Combat Begins.​
  3. GM Response to Combat. Required die roll will be presented.​
  4. Player Response. Player Roll. Player may close combat.​
  5. GM Combat Close Response (if necessary)​

  
  +Basics Behind the Rolls+
  
  Three Types of Opponents: Basic, Challenging, and Boss.
  Basic: Just classic battling. It is generally expected that your character can handle this with general ease.
  Challenging: These will require higher rolls and a bit of strength in whatever technique the character uses to attack.
  Boss: These will require the best rolls, the most creativity, and the best weaponry/spells/approaches suited to the character.
  
  Three Types of Character Approaches: Strength, Weakness, Long Shot.
  Strength: The character attacks within their class/strength/ability.
  Weakness: The player attacks in a class/ability that they are not necessarily comfortable or entirely skilled at.
  Long Shot: The player is being an idiot and doing something that would never work unless the die gods are on their sides.
  
  +How Opponent Types and Character Approaches work together+
  BASIC OPPONENT
  Strength Base Roll: 12
  Weakness Base Roll: 14
  Long Shot Base Roll: 16
  
  CHALLENGING OPPONENT
  Strength Base Roll: 14
  Weakness Base Roll: 16
  Long Shot Base Roll: 20
  
  BOSS OPPONENT
  Strength Base Roll: 18
  Weakness Base Roll: 20
  Long Shot Base Roll: 25 (requires stat bonus)
  
  NOTE: In a boss battle, there will be much more discretion for creativity and teamwork between players. Successful rolls will mean successful hits, NOT kills. Furthermore, for boss rolls, because they are much more difficult, the player will get a 'second chance' roll if their first roll is not successful.
  In Step 3, where the GM presents the required roll, it will have the relevant stats already added in and will be presented in a manner to explain the reason the roll is what it is. Stats are applied by level of skill, as portrayed:
  5% = Beginner ----> No Mod
  10% = Applicable ----> No Mod
  20% = Novice ----> +1
  30% = Adept ----> +2
  45% = Advanced ----> +3
  50% = Expert ----> +4
  65% = Sage (Mortal Mastery) ----> + 5
  
  Example:
  Shirin Vs. Challenging Opponent, Strength (Longsword)
  Base Roll: 14
  35% in long sword, +2 Bonus
  14% in valor, +1 Bonus
  14% in strength, +1 Bonus.
  
  14 - 2 - 1 - 1 = 10 Required.
  
  The player will then post a blank post with "Rolling..." posted and then roll a 20 sided dice (D20) on that post. Then the player will post a SECOND post with their response in accordance with how their roll went. They can wrap it up themselves (Step 4), or the GM can add a post in at the end to wrap it up accordingly.
  
  WARNING: If you delete ANY POSTS in these events, I will assume you're trying to cheat and get a better roll. I don't want any explanations, I won't believe a word you say, and I'll roll FOR you with a penalty of 5 added onto the battle. This means, for example, Shirin would need a 15 instead of a 10. If you make a mistake, for example, roll a D6, or roll twice. LEAVE IT. I have eyes. I can see the mistakes.​

[spoili][/spoili]

 

[B l u E s]

[dash=goldenrod]

Aris still perplexed from how the flame came out ended up snapping his attention as he looked at Aiko next to him. His eyes were filled with excitement from this brief moment of success, '' Why did you do that!? You had it right there! '' he asked with a smile as he looked at her confused over her reaction and the words she spoke. That's when he realized that she was scared and he crunched down to her level as he placed his hand on her shoulder, '' Hey, are you okay?'' He asked quietly as he tried looking for her eyes. She seemed in distress and some what panicking. Her words resonated but he couldn't understand them.

Jav'va looked at Zolykar and just huffed him, You could be a tinge more nice to the young maiden, you know? No point in calling her childish. It is not like you weren't surprised the first time you burped a flame out of your mouth! She said disappointing in how Zolykar was acting. He was always so vain.

[/dash]

 

[Rainjay]

Illyria woke with a start, the remnants of a virulent dream lingering in her thoughts for a few moments as she reacquainted herself with her surroundings. At first, she couldn't make sense of it. Where was she? Then she felt a familiar but disconcerting feeling in her head, the presence of something else, and then the memories of the day before rushed back to her.

Dragons. She had seen dragons. Bonded with a dragon! She'd met the order, several members in it, seen the fourteen dragons in their absolute glory, and had ended the day with a hearty dinner, of all things. This was her room, a loft above Mirazh's nest, in a stable where the tamers collectively lived and slept. These sheets were now hers. This bed, too. The entire room, in its delicate beauty, was her home. Part of her felt like she was betraying her family, calling this new place her home, but her heart was here. She couldn't pretend that it wasn't. She wanted every inch of this.

Rising to her feet with a broad grin, she began to groom herself for the day, taking the time to brush through her lengthy hair--it had become a disaster over night--and to wash her face. It was a new day, so she might as well start fresh with everything. Sleep washed away, she dressed in some of the traveling clothing she had brought along with her, pulled on the boots she had worn on her arrival, and paused to look at herself in a mirror. The person that stared back looked so changed from the figure she had come to know. No gowns, no intricately woven hair, no make-up (though she dared allow herself a moment of self-pity at the loss), and little in the way of ornamentation. She was no longer a lady of the household. Instead, she had become a dragon tamer. She had to admit, she liked the title and how the person in the mirror seemed to reflect it. It was infinitely more befitting, she thought, than living cooped up in an estate of her.

Climbing down the ladder, Mirazh's thoughts joined hers, first bidding her a good morning and then giving her a polite nudge in the right direction. He'd already risen for the day, the big bowl he called a nest empty. They'll be in the kitchens, now, eating breakfast. He informed her. You slept in late. It wasn't in his nature to go around waking up the tired. He himself enjoyed a bit of extra sleep. But he would give her a warning, to ensure she wasn't late to training and her pride bruised too early.

Thanks, Mirazh. She left the stable and made her way to the kitchen, where the men and women she had met the night before were seated and standing, eating their morning meals. Out of habit she searched their faces for a glimpse of the remains of last nights events. Did they regularly drink during meals and get up the next morning, ready to train? Enough headaches had plagued her over the years, and she couldn't imagine vigorously training through it. She also searched for Reverie and Aris, ashamed of her curiosity but still wanting nonetheless to know how they were faring. She wondered if Aris would even appear at today's training, or if he would stubbornly refuse that, too. Ultimately, though, it seemed people were less conversational in the morning than they were at night. Silently, she rummaged around the kitchens for a bit of fruit that she nibbled on while she waited, impatient, for the day to begin.

--

It was later in the day, now, the afternoon to be exact, and during lunch Illyria had uncovered a bit of information that made her heart leap. Finally, they would have their chance to learn a little bit about this mysterious magic--mana, she corrected herself--that she'd been hearing about so often. It had only been a day, but Illyria was eager for the arrival of this lesson. The night before, she had dug through the books in the shelves on her room, though it was difficult to make sense of most of it without having experienced mana firsthand. The descriptions were so abstract sounding, like how one would describe a transcendentalist concept. The morning's training sessions had felt like one big barrier between her and this enigma; when they ran, she pushed herself, as though she could race through time and hurry along to the afternoon. The sun still moved the same, but the exercise helped in burning off her excess energy, for she had awoken bright-eyed and bushy tailed despite the drink she had had the night prior. Even if she managed to get hungover, there was nothing to keep her from enjoying a good run.

The rest of the training sessions had been largely ignored in her excitement. Lunch, too, was forgotten as she discovered this news. Bubbling with excitement, she paced around outside while the others ate, Mirazh watching from where he rested not too far away. This woman has far too much energy for me, he thought, growing tired just by watching her. He hoped the constant energy would fade a little with time.

Illyria was the first to line up in front of Merrik as their afternoon sessions began. She clung to every word, his display of power making her eyes grow wide. She wanted to be able to do that, too. The ability to manipulate and play with the elements of the world sounded like terrible fun. He only gave a description on how to summon a flame in their hand, but she wondered at what more she would eventually be able to do with this mana. Perhaps heal, the way Reverie had spoken the night prior. Or maybe she could perform such displays of color and energy, akin to how Merrik had while he spoke.

Focus, Ria, she silently mused, closing her eyes. She remembered how the bond had felt. It was warm, and filling, like a cocoon of companionship, as well as filled with electricity, the excitement of adventure and of sheer life. It had felt just like that, alive, more alive than she had ever felt before. She searched for that feeling, letting it fill her as it had in the coliseum. Then, she slowly began to paint the picture of the flame in her mind. Fire--it came from energy, the combustion of air, the creation of heat. She could almost feel that warmth against her palm. She envisioned its power, even as a tiny little pinpoint of light.

The heat against her skin became real. It wasn't blistering, but near enough to make her open her eyes with revelation. It was hardly any bigger than a candle's flame, but she smiled anyway, proud of her little creation. Then, as Merrik instructed, she willed it to vanish, and it did, leaving only a trace of smoke behind.

 

[Requiem]

[fieldbox=Requiem Used Gust, darkred]Requiem was elated to find that he was to spend the first part of the days training doing air mana practice. Air mana was the one he was most interested in learning after his bonded mana. Air, he believed, would be the most beneficial to him, especially with his style. It took him a few moments of concentration to quite get a grasp of what it was he wanted to do. He didn't want to just do the basics. He expected he could, but he wanted to try something a bit more focused. There was nothing he felt more at home with, than in the air. He expected that that was the reason he used to enjoy spending so much time on ships, the water was the closest thing he had to being able to soar through the skies. Of course, having the connection to the air, and being able to bend it were two different things, and he had to know the best way to shift the air. The pirate listened as Aleria played her tones, altering the temperature in a way that was comfortable to her. He however lacked any obvious connections to the air. Then, it connected. If she controlled the heat with her flute, why couldn't he conduct it with his hands? He had already been practicing working with his hands before with the voodoo.

He raised his hands into the air in front of him, carefully honing in on the heat. He spread his fingers slightly, and began to move them, high to raise the temperature, and low to lower it. It worked well enough, but while he was doing it, he was an easy target. He had to learn to incorporate movement into the process. Movement was key. Standing in one place in a battle was suicide.

Requiem closed his eyes again, taking a few deep breaths. While he was paused he felt the wind blow by from one of his comrades attempts, felt his body sway from the force, and was immediately aware of what he had to do. He couldn't just force the wind like a puppet, he had to become like the wind. He had to dance with the wind, the same way he danced with his swords, keeping a constant rhythm of shifts and changes. He couldn't just assign movements to it, he had to become the wind, and follow the patterns of the air.

His first process upon learning the basics, was of course to modify his acrobatic capabilities. The concept itself was simple enough, but applying it was found to be more difficult to accomplish. The idea was initially to create a whirlwind burst under him as he flipped through the air. To do so, just before he kicked off the ground, he twisted, ever so slightly, altering the steady flow of air to build below him. The effort did have an impact, but the impact was that he lost complete control of the flip and nearly landed on his neck, which he would have, if it hadn't been for his training on how to roll out of bad landings. He believed that what had happened was that he hadn't put enough twist, so the air, rather than enhancing his flip, instead simply pushed him straight up, which caused him to lose his balance. He was going to have to spin the air more, and make certain that it was moving the way he wanted to, not straight up, if he wanted it to be successful.

Taking a break from that practice, the pirate tried instead creating short lift bursts under his feet, attempting to create a sort of staircase in the air. It took him more than a few tries, and, he expected, a lot of bruises, but eventually he managed to stabilize the pressure for a few steps before he would lose his control. The greatest difficulty was that he lacked the strength to maintain the platforms ahead of him properly, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he lacked the timing to create them just before he stepped.

He knew it would take a lot more effort to figure out all of the nuances of the air step, but he believed that for his personal combat, being able to create platforms of air would be the most beneficial non-offensive magick he could learn, especially with the coming battle. He was far from having it mastered, but he had the beginnings of the ability figured out, and he wanted to learn some properly offensive abilities as well.

Spending a great deal of time aboard a ship which benefited from good winds granted one a decent understanding of the properties of the air. The pressure changes would frequently signify sudden shifts. All he had to do was figure out how to best weaponize the process. His first attempt was a complete and utter failure. He had tried to create a short burst of hot air in front of himself, but that proved to be too broad of an attempt, with the wave of air dissipating before it could really get anywhere. It wasn't until his 12th attempt at refining the process that he considered funnelling the heat. He had no idea of it would work, but he wanted to give it a try, so he focused his energy into creating a spiralling tunnel of hot air surrounded by a slightly larger barrier tunnel of cool air that would, theoretically keep the warm air trapped, forcing it to drive out the only available opening at incredible speeds.[/fieldbox]

 

[Soulserenity20]

Merrik stood silently for some time as he observed the three tamers before him. Each was quietly struggling to find the correct channels within their minds and create the necessary connections to draw out their fire mana. He saw Illyria appear to harness impressive control over her magicks, Aris appearing to lack control, and Aiko appearing fearful. The spectrum of responses to the mana was both expected and realistic. Fear, control, a lack thereof, these were three of the most expected responses to magick, alongside excitement and exasperation. When he had seen that each had given it an honest attempt, he stepped forward and spoke, quickly breaking up chatter between Aris and Aiko.

"Very good, for a first try, everyone. I have some recommendations for each of you. Illyria, you seem to have a good understanding of what's going on both within your bond and out. Your flame seemed controlled and strong. I'll have you continue to summon and extinguish a flame a few more times, but then I'd like to see if you can summon a flame in each hand." He gave her a nod, gently ushering her to back away and take some space to work, before moving to Aiko.

"Aiko, you seem afraid. I wonder if perhaps you'd be more comfortable with some research before experimenting more in person? If not, I suggest you continue trying as you are. Remember, you can summon the flame a little ways away from you, if you want. It's just usually easier to do right in the palm of your hand." He gave her arm a gentle, encouraging squeeze, before moving to Aris.

"As for you, Aris, was it? Your flame appeared wild, as if a candle in a storm. Now, since it's not windy out here, I'm guessing this is the result of an inner turmoil. You should keep practicing, but I'm assigning you a minimum of an hour of meditation daily from now on. If you cannot calm your mind, your mana will be more dangerous than anything. Now, show me again, and tell me what you're thinking as you do so." He stood back a bit and waited for Aris to go again.

~~~
​

Meanwhile, Terria was laughing and enjoying herself thoroughly. She watched as several of the water tamers worked to summon their streams and send them flying at her. Once or twice she actually received a light, misty shower. She continually sent bursts of wind forward, dousing Team water with light sprays of their own water sources. She would occasionally shout out advice and tips, encouragement when it was called for. "Keep at it Goliath! You've got the idea, just try and remember what water does naturally. Think of how the rivers flow, the tides, how they push and pull."

She saw Reverie move and sit down, to which she responded with a light shout. "Rev, water does not sit still. You will never attain true power over this mana without trying to understand it. We need rivers, not rain drops! Up you go!" She sent a strong rush of air to where Rev was sitting and the force of the wind ushered her up a bit.

She looked behind her and saw Requiem flailing through the air, before landing roughly into a roll from which he recovered quickly. Laughing out loud, she backed up to where he was. "What on Vesperia are you doing? You're supposed to be gusting the other team."​

 

[Mowkie]

[dash=#D2B9D3]

​

The hand that suddenly touched her shoulder snapped Aiko from her own thoughts and the demanding words of her dragon, her sparkling eyes of pale blue snapping up to look at the man who dared place his hand on her. Hackles rising in defense, she cleared her throat and forced herself to stand, thus removing the touch from herself. A shaken, though somewhat firm voice came forth as she spoke to Aris, her brow pinched together in a frowned state. "I'm fine," she said simply, her words clipped and somewhat cold to keep herself from falling apart. She trembled slightly, and her arms remained crossed over her chest, but she stood firm, not allowing her fear to overtake her again.

Zolykar turned his growl towards his sister, snapping his maw at her in irritation as a plume of violet smoke flew from his flared nostrils. ~War is not nice, Jav'va! And she will not learn through niceties. Were she a babe, perhaps I would treat her in more soothing a tone. But she is not a babe. And she only has a month to learn! That is no time at all.~ He turned his back to the dragoness, snapping his tail around himself and fluttering his wings somewhat in frustration. Some of it was the fact that her fear had filled his own head, and his own response was anger. Alas, there was little he could do about such a reaction…still so new to the feelings he shared with this strange little creature. Perhaps practice was what they would both need…

When Merrik spoke, both dragon and tamer looked towards him and listened to his words. Zolykar huffed somewhat jealously towards the female bonded to Myrazh, not surprised by her natural ability with the mana that flowed through them. Aiko turned her full attention to her leader, her body visibly relaxing when he recognized her fear and offered her to study. A small shock played across her face when he mentioned she could summon the flame away from her, quickly followed by a slight smile. "Oh, I did not know I could summon it away from me! I will try that first, then…but perhaps research would be good as well. Where could I do that? Are the books in my loft going to have what I need on the fire?" She let him squeeze her arm, not reacting in quite as hostile a manner to having his hand on her skin, instead nodding towards him as he moved on.

She turned to her dragon, planting her feet firmly in the ground so she could say what she wanted without recoiling. "We agreed that as long as I cleaned and shined your scales every night, you would be my guide. So guide me, Zolykar. How do I summon the flame away from me? What extra step do I need to take?"

For a moment, the amethyst creature seemed somewhat perplexed by her sudden stubbornness and strength of spirit. He was surprised by how quickly she came back from her bout of fear, and a small twinge of pride and even respect sparked at the back of his mind. ~Well, when you imagine the bond…I would think that you simply imagine extending it out to the place you wish to summon the flame. Do be warned, however…the farther away you summon it, the harder it will be to do so.~

"That's fine. I want to give it a try. If I cannot do it today, I will spend my free time reading about it so that I have a better understanding tomorrow."

The dragon gave a nod, forcing himself to calm himself once more as he laid his body back down and closed his eyes. All his attention was on her and his own mana stores, readying himself for when she began to draw from him again. When he nodded, she did as well before turning and looking for a good spot of dirt to put a simple flame. Finding one roughly five feet from her, she focused herself and took a deep breath to empty her mind of everything by her dragon and the thought of that little violet flame. She searched deep within herself, closing her eyes as she did so, for that little silver thread that connected her to her dragon.

Upon once more finding it, Aiko followed it up to Zolykar and once more found the center of his connection to her. He opened his stores to her then, and once more she felt herself filling with the warmth and energy that could only be the pure magic that was her dragon. This time, however, she did not contain that mana, instead imagining the little thread that connected them reaching out and touching that spot chosen before her. Like a serpent, the thread extended from her mind and grasped the spot, clinging to it so that it was connected to them. And when she felt this connection was enough, Aiko imagined it springing forth a flame.

At first, nothing happened. All that she could feel and hear were the sounds of her dragon breathing and the wind in her own lungs, the warmth of his mana flowing through her like a small trickle. Her mind reached for him, a single thought produced. I need more…

The trickle turned into a stream.

From the dirt sprang a tiny violet flame.

Their eyes opened to see her hand had risen to face that spot, and in it was the same sized flame that she had in her hand a few moments prior. It was tiny, delicate, and absolutely beautiful. Aiko gave a prideful smile and a small squeak of excitement. In response to this, the flame grew double its size, now a flame large enough to be seen by everyone else. This, for both of them, was the first success that would pave the road to being true members of the Order. Hopefully, everything went as well as this flame, but one could not be too hopeful.

[/dash]

 

[White]

Reverie felt a hush of wind that made her stand up, a voice and a deed to interrupt her angry complaining of Celeste's laughter, whom now laughed even more. Her eyes turned to Terria, curiously."...trying to understand it." The words echoed in her mind. Is that which makes it eve more so difficult?
Within her eyes, she saw and remembers the day she spend watching how the ice froze, her time spent with the kind nomad that she would come to consider her foster father. She remembers the days that she watched the rain and other days where she watched the snow. I always loved the snow... Would I be able to make this to snow? Her eyes traveled over the wet earth and gras infront of her. Terria mentioned that heat matters for the application of wind magic, so would I require to draw heat away from water to freeze it? Her mind focused on finding a source, a point from where she could begin, instead of controlling a single tear of water, she reached out for multiple, beginning their slow flow to a single small center. In her vision, she pictured how the water would flow naturally and directed it to where she wanted it. Then she took it, too quickly, the heat away from it, the small puddle froze to solid ice instantly and small sparks of flames glowed dangerously around her for a few second. Reverie's eyes turned to the small clump of ice and her gaze turned into a disappointed frown. She wanted snow, not solid ice.
With her dream of a snowball to throw crushed, her attention returned back to the water in itself, within her mind, she reached back out to the water, felt how the solid water that she created was different, it was stoic, tight, heavier and unmoving.
"If I could make it solid, could I also, in essence, completly vaporize the water by burning it to oblivion?" She thought out loud, her eyes glimmered at the thought of such a possibly dangerous experiment.

 

[Rainjay]

Move with the water... Move with the water...

Saira chanted this to herself as she continued to work with the water, crouching down in the grass and attempting to only work with a small area. Like when they learned to conjure a flame, perhaps smaller would be better; when she lost control, the water wouldn't spatter all over, and it would be easier to work with a smaller mass. She still needed to use a flow of mana, but this time she would try to also move with it. Slowly, she raised a few hesitant, wobbling droplets from the puddles in the mud, and moved her hand in a swirling motion. She held her breath.

As she watched, the little droplets followed the direction she waved them in, slowly revolving in a circle. She lit up with a grin. Pulling on a little more mana, she continued to pull more water from the ground, letting the drops coagulate into a greater mass. It became progressively harder to control the water as it grew, requiring constant motion and a constant supply of mana, but she slowly worked her way up until she had a swirl of water in between her hands, moving like a fish in a pond. The light from the sun refracted through the moving surface of the liquid, making it green and blue and clear in color as it shifted and turned. It was mesmerizing.

Next, she had to turn it into something useful. The goal was to make a projectile, and to then throw that projectile at somebody. Everybody seemed preoccupied with simply trying to get their mana to work: no actual 'fighting' had begun. She had nobody to model after. Biting her lip, she looked down at the water between her hands. She couldn't shape it like a ball. It would collapse in the air as it moved, if one of the tamers on the air mana team didn't forcefully stop it. So, she had to send it as a stream, which meant extending her power further than she was used to. With the air mana, she only had to keep things local. One push would send a gust in the desired direction for quite a ways, if she put enough into the initial force. With this though, she feared that the water would simply fall apart if she didn't hold it together as a cohesive whole and guide it towards its destination.

So, she chose somebody nearby. Aislin.

She was struggling with the air mana and the flute, though unlike a few of the others, she actually managed to get things moving. For now, though, she was distracted. Quickly, Saira began to increase the speed with which her water flowed, and then threw it in the other woman's direction. "Head's up!"

 

[Requiem]

[fieldbox=Attempted Explanation, darkred]"Honing in on some other uses first. The more control I have, the better off I'll be. If I can for instance, get the air to become solid enough to support my weight, even if it's just for a second, I might be able to use it to inflict more damage on whoever I'm targeting," He explained. "Of course, that's not saying that I would use such a focused ability on one of them, but it's still, just about control." To demonstrate what he was meaning, he created a slightly wider tunnel, moving his arms in a larger circular pattern, weakening the amount of force it would produce, and aimed the dampened air blast at his 'mentor' Avren who was across the way. At the rate he had it, from what little he'd practiced, it would either have the force of being tackled by someone, or a light shove, he didn't have enough practice to know which would be more likely.[/fieldbox]

 

[Silver]

[fieldbox= Aislin Uses Tackle Gust!, plum]
Aislin, still fiddlign with erh flute, had managed to get a small gust to blow in front of her now. Her lips smiled against the simple instrument as pride swelled in her at the feat. However soon her attention was caught and she stoppe dplaying, looking up with enough time to get a face full of water. A startled yelp tore from her throat as she took two steps back, looking down at herself. The coolness of it felt nice as she shoved a couple strands of hair from her face and looked up to see the redhead responsible for the impromptu drenching. She tossed the woman a smile and a thumbs up.

However, she couldn't let it go unreturned. So she thought for a moment as she reviewed what she'd been able to do so far. After deciding she brought her flute back up to her lips and again focused on a blowing a big gust of hot air from the tip as she stood, her left side facing Saira. Taking a moment to aim and line her own body up with the Saira's, she felt a moment of guilt. She was bigger than the other woman. Would she hurt her too bad?Asslin hesitated before shaking her head and brought the flute back up to her lips. She inhaled, and then blew a loud piercing note that echoed almost painfully around the open space of the meadow, shoving her the mana to her will and holding tight to the flute as her body rocketed towards the other woman.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Rainjay]

Saira couldn't help the glee at having been successful in her attempt, and nor could she help but return the smile Aislin gave her. Aislin was another of the tamers she knew nearly nothing about, but she seemed to be of a good nature. It was that nature that caught Saira off guard, whose attention began to drift to the others on the field. She didn't notice the woman was lining herself up with Saira until she had raised her flute, that flute that she always seemed to carry around, to her lips and blew a shrieking, ear-piercing note through the delicate instrument.

Well, she had thought it was delicate.

There was very little time for Saira to think before Aislin plowed into her, the gust of air and the greater size of her body knocking the redhead down with their combined momentum and force. As she started to topple, she attempted to grab onto the woman's wrists: if she was going down, so should her opponent. Then she landed heavily in the muddy earth, her spine slamming down with the impact. Water sprayed, and her hair came loose from its bindings. Her landing was jarring, somewhat painful, though after a moment of stunned silence she smiled widely and began to laugh.

"Well, I hadn't thought of that one before," she said, sitting upright. Pursuing her lips, she looked back at the puddles of water and suddenly lifted her arms, putting forth a surge of mana to lift a wild stream of water into the arm and down over Aislin's head.

 

[Stiorra]

It had been a busy, and eventful, last couple of days. First, there was the Queen's arrival, and while it was exciting, it left Kalona feeling a bit unsure. No offense to Goliath, but she didn't trust the Queen all that much. There was nothing wrong with her in particular, but after the events at Espella, she found it much harder to trust outsiders. Valaeria seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders, a powerful leader who knew her shit. And while Valaeria and Goliath had a relatively civil relationship, he never did speak ill of her, so really there was no reason why Kalona couldn't trust the Queen. She had hoped the Queen's stay was a bit longer, as the water tamer would have liked to get to know Valaeria. Not only to get a better feel for her and her intentions, but to get to know her as Goliath's cousin. She was a connection to Goliath outside the world of dragon tamers, a connection to his home life, his childhood, something that felt genuine and human. Just as she'd love to get to know other tamers' family members, their friends, even their pets, childhood homes, or favorite places to visit. These connections Kalona missed and longed for as she grew tired of the grim realities of war.

Then there was the Council Meeting, held similarly to the one the Order had at the Monastery when they had to decide whether to send aid to Mistwind Camp or Ylandre, choosing the latter. And just like the previous meeting, they had to decide where to send their aid. Except this time, they weren't given the choice of choosing one or the other. Instead, the Council had to pool their thoughts together, speak strategy and the next steps in overcoming this war and getting a foot ahead of Ogual. Not everyone was apt to military and strategy talk but some outshone more than others, naturally. One such person being Goliath, he suggesting what ultimately became their next plan of attack, save and recapture Kuhl.

When that was done and over with, the Order proceeded to watch the bonding ceremony for the newly arrived tamers. While it was nothing new, the event was emotional and spiritual, reminding her of the very day she bonded with Lyre.

The day carried on as usual, with new and fresh faces into the mix, and before she knew it, it was time to eat. A large dinner was prepared, roasted pheasant, steamed potatoes with an assortment of vegetables, and fruit. People trickled into the dining room to help set up the table before taking their seats and once everyone gathered, Kalona looked around the table and smiled to herself. What a pleasant way to end the day.

Kalona decided not to get involved or introduce herself this time, as last round didn't go so well... Her eyes glanced down at her hands, remembering the day she had punched Requiem in the face. She balled her fist, rubbing it with her other hand as she realized it was still sore from that encounter. For now, she decided she would take the time to study the new tamers and watch how they interacted with others to get a feel for their personalities. That's not to say, however, that she was opposed to discussion, as she'd gladly talk to them if they so chose to confront her. For the time being, the new tamers all seemed pleasantly distracted by the others which left Kalona to comfortably sit back and observe.

It wasn't before long that some disagreement occurred, a heated argument between Reverie and the youngest tamer of the batch, Aris. Kalona smirked, kicking up her feet as she sipped on her wine with a laissez faire attitude. She was honestly curious to watch where this would go, both sides bringing up valid points. She couldn't come to side with one side or the other as she herself felt these same feelings, asked the same questions. Some just took longer to come to terms of acceptance.

She glanced over at Goliath who seemed to have the same thing in mind, tipping her glass to him as she smirked and then downed the contents of her glass before getting up to fill another. Kalona loved to drink and have a good time, drinking being a very social activity for her. However, tonight she was using it in much the same manner as Goliath was. While he drank to ignore the conflict, Kalona decided tonight she'd drink to forget the mark.

As the night went on, her drinking proved successful. She hit her bed like a brick, wine-breathed and mind foggy as she fell into a deep, heavy sleep. Wine sleeps were always the most comfortable, cozy and snug as she melted against the soft cushion of her bed and warmth of her blankets. She felt nothing, feared nothing, and for a moment, it was as if all her troubles had vanished. If only it had lasted longer than just the night. If only she'd wake and the mark be gone. If only...

Morning came. And the mark was still there.

---​

Kalona rolled out of bed, sleepily walking to the mirror as she rolled the sleeve of her nightgown back up her shoulder. Shaking her hands through the mess of hair, she pulled it up into a lazy bun. Stray hairs fell from the bun and around her face. Giving herself a look over in the mirror, she shrugged and then brushed off her nightgown before proceeding outside. While everyone was dressed in rather casual wear, or wearing their armors and leathers, Kal decided to stay in her pajamas. What was the point in getting dressed if she would just sleep or rest a good portion of the day anyways. It wasn't the most opportune attire, but she was feeling rather grumpy, tired, and drained, and frankly, she didn't give a fuck if Merrik or anyone else had a problem with it.

She went through the day as normal, trying to keep up with the others. For the most part, she did well as the majority of it was rather physical. At least she hadn't lost her physical strength. It was her mental strength and mana that she found things to be most difficult. Unfortunately for her, the main focus of the day was mana training.

This afternoon's training was a bit different than the others. The tamers were split up, the newer tamers went off with Merrik while the others remained with Terria, she splitting them into two groups: Team Air and Team Water.

She honestly didn't have much interest to learn air, not feeling a connection to the element like she did with water. While she split and walked over to the Team Air side, she glanced over her shoulder at Team Water. Her attentions were pulled, distracted by Saira and Goliath's attempts at manipulating the water. Unable to pull herself away, she jogged over to the group, wanting to help. After all, she was always a true Team Water at heart.

While Terria was perfectly capable of giving them pointers, Kalona couldn't help but want to give some of her own, smiling once they started to understand that they needed to move with the water. "You guys have the right idea, it's helpful to move your body with the water. You'll have better control over this movement the more you control your breathing. Meditation helps, too," she paused, glancing at each and every one of the tamers on Team Water. "It's important that you don't remain so rigid, such like a stone or rooted tree. There's a lot of flow to water, and air," as Terria had mentioned, "and if you don't work with the flow, move with the flow, then you are fighting the water."

"Take time to feel the push and pull and pay attention to the way the water moves, its weight as it shifts. In many ways, its a force of its own, and really, there is no way to control it. Not entirely, any way. So do not jump into this thinking its something you can control. Rather, its flow is merely guided by your influence, and your guide is based on the flow. The two work hand-in-hand."

"To bounce off of that, don't think so much about what you are trying to do, rather have the water react on how you are feeling, as water reacts much to emotion. Because of this, I would suggest one to have good control over their emotions," her eyes briefly looked over at Reverie, recalling the argument from earlier. "For example, if you are angry, your "control" will be rushing and unpredictable, crashing, cold, and fast moving. With a calmer mind, and controlled breathing, you will have better fluidity and movement. That's not to say that mana reacting on angrier, less-controlled, or more aggressive emotions is more powerful, per se. Whether you are angry, happy, sad, or anything else in between, you can still achieve the same intensity, though with different effects."

She lifted her arm, hovering it over the water as her hand rest limply. As she slowly lifted her arm, water began to pool together, a large mass bubbling up from the grass before letting it go, having it all fall back into the earth. "As Terria once told me, any manipulation is a success. So, if you attempt one thing but end up with a different outcome, don't be discouraged. Eventually with practice and a better understanding, you will learn to manipulate it in whatever way you please."

"As further study material, I would suggest spending a lot of time around the source material. Watch how water flows down a river, focus on spots at which the path is slower and spots that the water rushes. How it splits and moves its way around an obstacle, such as a rock or log, how it moves in a natural environment. Remember, take your time, and be resourceful. Terria was nice enough to give you a source material. But depending on your environment, you may not always have easy access to a water source. Sometimes, you will need to draw from more...unconventional sources.." her mind drifted to the cave system, coming upon the fallen kokuvras with its blood pooled beneath its body. For that fight, she had to draw water from the pool of blood and use it against her enemies. "Sometimes you may need to think outside the box, adapt to what is around you even if there is very little there. Water is ever changing, and so you must be too. Versatile and willing to "go with the fl-.." There was a prick at her mind and she realized it was Lyre telling her to shut up. She was talking too much, getting lost in explaining her own experiences with water mana to the others. After all, this wasn't her position and Terria was doing a fine job in teaching them. "You guys are doing an excellent job, I'd be more than willing to practice with you some time if you'd want," she said with a smile and bow before returning to her own Team.

Air was never something she attempted before, as the only element she cared to ever learn was water. Fire was a given and she couldn't really avoid that. Mana had many endless possibilities, and there was so much more she could learn. There was fire and water, and she already delved into illusory mana. However, if she was going to truly become an effective mage and mana user, she might as well be versed in all forms of mana.

After several failed attempts at sending a gust of wind towards one of the tamers on Team Water, sweat started to bead down her brow. It wasn't that she was having a hard time understanding air, but every time she drew mana, she could feel the effects of the mark upon her neck. Rather than pushing through or overcoming its effects, instead, she focused too much on her frustrations and how the mark seemed to inhibit her abilities. Not in the sense that it blocked her mana, but almost as if it was suffocating her. It didn't matter if she drew a lot of mana, or very little. It was the same smothering effect.

Lyre sensed her tamers disgruntled mind, it could even be seen on her face. She was struggling and disconnected from her training, and Lyre wanted more than anything to intervene. Perhaps if she distracted her tamer, then Kalona could truly tap into manipulating air. Aiming at Kalona, she shot out a jet of water from her mouth.

Kalona blinked, shaking her head as her mind took a few moments to process what happened. At first, she thought it was someone from Team Water who had taken a shot at her, but when she heard laughter coming from her sea-cat, she knew exactly where it had come from.

"Lyre, what the hell was that for?!"

I want you to block my attacks, Lyre shot another stream of water, this time hitting Kalona's face.

"Lyre stop!" Kalona raised her hands in protest, trying to stop the stream of water coming towards her. "You're getting me all wet!"

Duh, that's the point. You don't want to keep getting wet, then block my attacks.

Kalona grumbled, her brows furrowing as she glared at her dragon. "Ohhhhh fiiiiine, you little brat," she winked at Lyre before taking a deep breath. "Okay. I'm ready."

Each oncoming attack from Lyre continued to go through her supposed air shield, drenching her even more. It was hard, as Kalona couldn't actually see what she was doing and instead, had to focus on the sensation of touch.

As she continued making the motions, she focused on the feeling of the wind as it moved over her body, wrapping around her arms and brushing against her palm as it weaved between her fingers. She felt the slightest tickle of a breeze through her hair as the air around her started to grow and quicken. In a way, it felt and reminded her a lot like water. After all, the two weren't all that different from one another. They were rather similar in their technique, both internally driven with wavy and flowy movements. Air was a less deliberate force than water, of course, and it being an even more free flowing element. She knew she couldn't utilize air in the same way she could water, given the more obvious differences between the two, but she figured she could apply the basic concept of what she knew about water and adapt it to the use of air mana. She had to move and change direction without pausing or losing momentum, be adaptable and fluid, as well as flexible. Much like water, she couldn't fight it, as avoiding any resistance would give the best result possible.

The two worked on several timed attacks, Kalona counting to three before Lyre would shoot another water attack at her. Each time, Kalona would fail, sigh, and then try again, though each try a bit closer to victory than the last.

"One, tw-," Lyre switched things up, sending an attack at a time Kalona did not expect. "Lyre, you didn't go on three! You cheated." She threw her arms down, about to give up.

You can't always predict or calculate your enemies attacks. Sometimes they surprise you. You have to be versatile, think quick. She crouched lower to the ground, flicking her tail back and forth as a low hum purred from her chest. Relax your mind. You are trying too hard.

The breeze kissed her cool, wet skin and water dripped from loose strands of her hair onto her shoulders and chest. Kalona closed her eyes as she sought for a connection, the combination of the two elements reminding her of her hometown.

She imagined the sails picking up the wind from her father's boat, gliding along the ocean's surface during one of his many fishing trips. Or how the water would change depending on the intensity of the wind, the ocean being a calm ripple or the way the seas became angry during the high winds of a colossal storm.

She thought of the moments she would stand at the edge of the cliffs along the Cenva shoreline, looking over the big drop off into the water below. Large gusts of wind crashed the 20 foot waves up into the rocky edge, misting her face as the salt water neared the top of the cliff.

She opened her eyes once more, her mind relaxed and cleared, feeling more connected to the element than she did previously. "Again," Kalona breathed lightly, more determined than before. Moving her arms in circular motions, Kalona worked on drawing air up from the left and down to the right, her arms crossing over as she tried to circulate the movement, continuing with the momentum. As air collected in front of her, she could feel the pace speed up, parts of her gown waving as the wind picked up.

Lyre smirked, standing as she, too, readied herself for the attack. Drawing water from her pouch lining, Lyre drew her head back and then quickly jutted forward as a surge of water shot from her mouth.

Kalona paid close attention to Lyre's body movements, the way she pulled back to collect the water and at the first indication of forward movement, Kalona drew upon more air, increasing her shield's strength and speed. As the water came upon the barrier, it dissipated, the circular gust redirecting the momentum of the water elsewhere. Quickly, Kalona reversed the movement of the air, shifting her weight to the other side. As she did this, this halted the movement of the water enough so that she could easily redirect the flow. Releasing her hands, the air shield dropped and as she pulled her arms back, the water collected back into one mass. Without stopping, Kalona drew the water back and looped it around her body, and then with a quick step forward and sharp movement of her arm, the stream of water shot back at Lyre, hitting her in the face.

You-! You're supposed to be practicing air, Lyre scolded, though there was a light playfulness to her voice. She shook the water from her face, bringing her paw up as she wiped it from her muzzle.

"The goal was not to remain predictable. After all, you can't always predict what your enemies may do. Sometimes they surprise you," she winked, giving Lyre a taste of her own medicine. "You were also being a little shit." The feelings of fatigue started to set in as an unwelcoming force seeped through her body. She took a seat in the grass, not bothering to find a dry spot, propping her elbow on her leg as her head rested in the palm of her hand. "I think that's enough for today." She took a deep, slow breath through her nose.

Her bun was now a sad flop of hair, half up, half down as it hung loosely. Strands of hair stuck to her face, and even her night gown, while it wasn't see through, clung tightly to her body. "I haven't bathed yet, but I guess this is close enough," she looked up at her dragon with an attempted smile, wondering if she was succeeding at all at trying to hide the effects of the mark, which were getting increasingly worse. Luckily, her soaked body did well to hide the feverish sweating.

 

[Chrome]

​

The soldier gathered more water to his position, and as the puddle grew in size he back away and continued to move his hands in the same pattern that appeared to work for him. The complexities of mana overwhelmed him at times and he decided that if he discovered that one of his methods worked; he would run with it. Goliath's left hand moved like a wave from left to right and gathered the water in his 'current' as his right hand moved slower in a downward spiral pattern, this method gathered water with his left and his right hand and arm movements would draw the water from his left side and merge the water with the puddle. In short, he whirl-pooled the water around him.

He felt a small splash of water hit his face from his own team and turned to see Reverie turn crimson as they locked eyes briefly. The accidental attack broke his concentration a little, but luckily he had not lifted the water from the ground just yet. Goliath smirked as Reverie scolded her dragon, it was obvious that the tamer and dragon were having a conversation through their bond and he thought it was amusing. It reminded him of when he and Hezekiah had interacted the first month after their bond... and the hilarity that followed.

Goliath's puddle of water had grown quite large when Kalona strolled over to offer suggestions after Terria had told him to keep up what he was doing, he was grateful for the pointers because it helped him gain a firmer grasp on how water mana worked. Kalona had become very knowledgeable of water mana in her time with The Order and she described it in simple terms so that the soldier could understand, the clarification aided him in constructing how he would lift the water and direct the flow at an unsuspecting member of Team Air.

I need to guide the water with my influence she said, Goliath thought to himself, I can't think that I'm controlling it... I need to act as though the water is moving with me, and through it's own flow it will hit my target.

The soldier eyed the pirate. Requiem appeared to be too preoccupied with his air mana to focus on any assailant planning to drench him. Target sighted, Goliath smirked and calmed himself, he lifted both of his arms hastily and with his hands open he guided the water he gathered in a upward stream. Goliath spun with the momentum as he pulled the water upward and turned both his hands into fists. The soldier focused on pushing the wave with his clenched fists and sent a rushing force of water spiraling toward Requiem.

"Heads up!", Goliath shouted, a smile across his face as he watched the unstoppable force collide with his comrade. Realizing only then that he may have used too much power behind the attack.

 

[Silver]

[fieldbox= Collisions, plum]
Aislin gave the redhead a smile and a delighted, breathless laugh as she untangled herself from the shorter woman, not minding in the slightest as a new splashing of water made its way over the top of her head. She had got her vengeance, and what a splendid vengeance had it been.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she finally managed to roll off of her. Aislin's cheeks where still flushed and her heartbeat was pumping fast from the adrenaline of flying through the air. That had been a blast. Glancing at the wild array of the other tamers hair, the woman made herself busy trying to find the binding that had held it into place. It took a few moments but eventually she handed the strip back to the redhead, laughter still dancing in her eyes.

Aislin climbed to her feet, glancing around before trotting over to scoop up her flute from where it'd landed after the brunette lost her grip on it with the collision of bodies. After straightening she came back to Saria's side, blue eyes glancing over her figure as she repeated her question. The guilt coming back as she looked her over. She wanted to be sure the woman was okay before she made a beeline back towards her side of the line. She was, after all, in "enemy" territory.
[/fieldbox]

 

[B l u E s]

[dash=goldenrod]

ARIS VAUGHN | TRAINING GROUND

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[dash=goldenrod]

Aris looked at Aiko as she seemed offended by him trying to comfort her. He chewed on his cheek as he stood back up unsure of why she was so hostile towards him. It was obvious that he took it quite personally, but he brushed it off for now. He listened to Merrik talking and he simply nodded. " Sure. I'll try. " He simply said not asking how to meditate cause he wouldn't just seat on the floor like a monk for hours. He extended his arm and tried to summon the fire but nothing was happening. His mind wandering elsewhere for some reason. Was it the hostility she showed to him? He didn't know but it sure hurt him a bit.

Seeing that nothing was happening Jav'va actually chuckled, I believe my young tamer forgot to think this time.

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[Soulserenity20]

[dash=white]

As time pressed on, the short hour of training in their magicks would come to an end and as Merrik relieved the newest tamers of their attempts to summon fire, he called over to Terria who then broke up her own training, session, giving encouragement to the more experienced tamers about their work and urging them to continue their learning of these new elements through study and meditation to increase their mana stores. Everyone knew that it was time for them all to go their separate ways and study and so Merrik said little to any of them, rather made his way to his dragon's side. Obsidian Nova had been resting in the shade of the nearby treeline, observing the events of training before him. "The variety in skill capabilities will be ever fascinating to me. You all look so similar, and yet each is so different."

Merrik nodded his head. It was interesting. Each tamer was so uniquely suited to certain skills and in some cases so obviously disinclined to others. Indeed, he believed their best bet at survival was to be highly skilled in one area but with adept capability in many others so as to offer versatility in combat. He wished for them all to special to offer a devastating advantage to the Order, but also knew their survival would depend on flexibility and adaptability. This was why he insisted everyone learn agility, balance, magick, weapon use, and study each evening to push hordes of information into their minds that may one day save their lives. Their experiences, their wisdom, and their own unique personalities were their true sword and armor in this battle. He only hoped he was doing enough as their leader to hone their blades and fortify their shields.

Merrik tugged the strings that held his shirt tied across his chest, loosening them from his neck and allowing a breeze to flow over him. The days were getting hotter and hotter in the northern region and he was certainly not one to enjoy such heat. He enjoyed the cooler climate of the north, having grown accustomed to it over the years. Moving towards Nova, he paused, placing a hand gently on the massive maw of the dark dragon before moving to his side and stepping up the resting beast's back. "I suppose we ought to get moving. Aglares will be waiting for us." He was heading to the estate to meet the necromancer to do a bit of research into the ailment afflicting Dalaith and Kalona. She had insisted she had found a clue in a particularly ancient text found in the oldest, concealed libraries at the Tetra manor. He had granted her access to these precious stores of knowledge as soon as he had found out about what was happening to his two tamers.


It had been some time now and with no leads, he was beginning to get desperate. It wasn't long before Merrik and Nova were in the skies. The drake pressed on at top speed almost the entire way and within two and a half hours they had reached the estate. Merrik immediately left his dragon to rest and entered his home, trailing deep underground to the old cellars, one of which housed the memory of when the Oracle had first come to meet him, holding a large, black egg. When he reached the old room where Aglares sat, scouring over a pile of books from the meager dozen shelves in the room, he cleared his throat to inform her of his presence, not wishing to startle her, but it appeared she was already fully aware of him. "Humans make more noise than a rampaging dire gorg, even when trying to be quiet, dear Merrik. Please, sit. I've something that may be of use to you."

He did as he was told, finding himself grinning as he wondered about how she viewed and perceived the world around her. Life must have been so different for her. As he pulled out an old wooden chair and sat down, he glanced at the book she had out in front of her. The writing was unfamiliar to him, in a language he knew nothing of. However, after staring at it for a while longer, he realized it must have been elvish. He immediately felt a pang of inadequacy, knowing that his younger sister had learned to read elvish in her time at the monastery but he, in all his years of training, had never accomplished as much. It certainly would have proven useful, if only this once.

"What have you, Aglares?"

The she-elf looked up from her book, piercing eyes examining the elder Tetra. "I do not believe the magicks instilled into your tamers is anything of this age. It is why you found nothing in your modern libraries." She flipped through the pages and landed on one with a large wall of text, none of which made any sense to Merrik. "There are certain spells and schools of magick that flourish most predominantly in the time of my people, but in the Days of Departure, those magicks left the land almost entirely. The dragons had their own systems of mana, as did the few, meager humans who worked to harvest mana from the earth and use it for their pathetic whims. The mana of the dragon tamers, the form you use today, is unique and formed through the combination of human creation and the essence of the elemental dragons to whom they were bonded. Your libraries hold nothing of this old mana. And why would they? Few humans can even fathom grasping such a magick as that held by the elves."

Merrik was already consumed by what the elf was saying. It seemed that each time he interacted with her she offered him new wisdom, new knowlegdes he could never have discovered on his own. "So my ancestors must have stored these away either for their safety or simply by the thought that they pertained only to the irrelevant wisdoms of the past ages. So... what exactly have you found in this text then?"

She flipped the page then and landed on a page with an image that sent a ripple of anxiety rolling through Merrik's nerves. The image depicted a dark sketch of a black spiral, seemingly placed on the flesh of some being's forearm. The mark was unmistakable but it appeared to be much more gruesome. The blackness from the dark spiral appeared to have leached out into the flesh and blood of the arm in the image, giving Merrik another wave of discomfort. "What does it say?"​

"Unfortunately it gives very little information on the symptoms created by it, rather the mark is used as an example one of the many manners by which one may deliver a curse. This book pertains to dark elven mana, forged of hatred, greed, and spite. It is the second half of the life giving mana my kind kindled for many millennia. But as you know, all things must be whole and light is only one half of such. Where there is light, there is darkness. Our magicks could not have existed without their dark counterparts. However, to my own dismay, my people refused to explore and learn of these magicks, refused to touch them, let alone master them. They were shunned and pushed out of sight and mind. I spent several millennia searching out texts pertaining to the Second Half, seeking ancient mages that had grown powerful by practicing both sides of the lifeblood of our people, but resources in the field were limited. My own experiments gave rise to most of the conventional lore associated with the ancient dark magicks, but there was always much I did not know. This particular book was written by a hermit sage that had abandoned our kind mere centuries before my time. I cannot fathom where your ancestors may have found this text, for it is one I am unfamiliar with." She paused, gently running her hand down the page, as if she had finally attained something she had been missing dearly.

Of course this news had not been what Merrik had expected. Aglares seemed to be giving him very little indicators of any major breakthrough regarding the issue.

"Do not fret, so loudly, Merrik." The words garnered a look from the man but before he could speak, she continued. "Up until now, we had no knowledge of where to look. Now we do. We now know that this mana comes from the time of the elves. Ogual is using ancient forms of mana against you, knowing full well that you will be weak against them. He had to have learned it from somewhere. We only need to find out where. It is true that much of his knowledge came from me, this much I have made clear to you. But this particular mana is not of my knowledge. It is a curse, but this much has been obvious from the start. You must continue to monitor their symptoms, any clues towards what is happening must be recorded for reference. If the worst case scenario arises, we must not fail to give meaning to their deaths. We must use what we learn from this occurrence to prepare us for future attacks. Do you understand?"

"You..." Merrik cleared his throat, deciding against his questions. "I will do what I can. Where to from now? Do you have any leads whatsoever? What of this old hermit? Do we have any knowledge of where he may have lived when he left the lands of your people?"

"Yes, his writing includes metaphors and phrases describing features of the land uncommon in the north. I would assume he moved south, as far away from the turmoil of the humans and elves as possible, into the deep jungles of Morii Onda. I will first seek out the ancient libraries of Kona Petl, for their wisdoms are vast and old. Perhaps they have more from this writer of the Second Half and from there, I may be able to pick up on a trail of Ogual's path of learning."

Merrik nodded. "I honor your will to serve the Order, Aglares. I sense that the blood oath is not the driving principle in your loyalty. I thank you."

She gave him a light smirk. "Go back to your sick and do for them what you can." She slid another old book to him, also written in elvish. "I suggest you get your sister to translate this and begin learning the spells within. It will help you infinitely if Ogual is using primarily elvish mana. You will have an advantage if you face him with some of your own."

"I will do as you advise." The pair stood then, and made their way out of the dark cellars of the manor and out into the hot, evening air. "Til then, Aglares."

"Yril a mura, Merrik." She bowed her head and began heading towards the woods.​

It was after eight in the evening when Merrik arrived back at the meadow. Nova left shortly after with Viridian to take him to the mountains to train in aerial fire attacks in the evening light, where the rock would bear the brute of their burns and not give rise to forest fires or destruction. Merrik had quickly sought out Terria and offered her the book, asking that she translate the entire thing as quickly as possible. She said nothing, but nodded her head in obedience and changed her evening plans.

He then sought out Dalaith and Kalona, bringing them to his quarters to discuss his meeting with Aglares with them. Once he had clarified everything, he waited for their responses, hoping the bit of knowledge would offer them some hope.

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[Shadicmaster]

Dalaith, tired from the extensive use of mana, especially in the more strenuous form of learning the use of a new element, found herself dozing through the most of her study hours. Sure, she had plenty of knowledge and books on the different forms of mana and their uses, but knowledge and application were two very different things, especially for one with limited capabilities in mana. A'untyr was considerate and understanding of the struggle and exhaustion of his tamer, being quite worried for her well being in his own right, and thus let her to rest. After what was no more than a short nap, however, the gold drake did make sure to wake Dalaith so as to have her go and bathe, lest she sleep through the night without doing so. Reluctant to wake, the scholar found it hard to stay steady as she stood up from bed. With a slight sigh, she looked to what notes she had gathered on her symptoms and their overall, long term effects. It was disheartening to think that even she was still clueless, with how often she would gather fresh books to search through for any hints as to the nature of her and Kalona's condition.

After a short time, Dalaith managed to gather her bearings and make way for the women's bath house, taking her time to soak and relax, getting out only when she felt she may even fall asleep from the permeating, comforting heat of the waters. Wearing a modestly long night gown and a pair of socks, Dalaith left the bath, only to be summoned by Merrik along with Kalona to speak. What was said was both a source of comfort and concern, but even so, she put on a bold face and thought of her continued research.
"Would it be at all possible for me to learn the language of the elves in order to further my own studies of such conditions?" She asked hopefully, then thinking further on the subject. "I had also hopes of asking you for assistance with regard my research, not only of the curse that Kalona and I are afflicted with, but also other forms and uses of mana, as well as the history of the tamers. I have noticed a few stalls that have been left vaccant and was wondering if one such stall could be used as a sort of library here at the meadow, so as not to require a flight back to the manor any time a tamer should have a question with regards such subjects."

 

[Chrome]

​

<You need to be faster Goliath! You're surrounded! Your shield is broken and you're out of spears!>, the iron dragon dictated a scenario for his tamer and placed five training dummies around the soldier. The tamer and dragon trained in the last light of the day out in fields, Goliath didn't feel like studying, or meditating for that matter, he needed to hone his skills before the Order took back Kuhl and the only way he could do that was to practice his swordsmanship. Hezekiah took it upon himself to supervise the training and provide appropriate insight when the drake saw fit.

Goliath spun and ducked under a training spear clenched in Hez's mouth from behind the dummies, the dragon moved quickly around the targets with the spear and aimed to hit Goliath in various areas and at several angles, not allowing his tamer to notice a pattern or have the time to disarm him. Spinning his sword in his palm, Goliath blocked and turned the spear from him and slid the sword across the throat of one of the targets and kicked it to the ground. Quickly, the soldier jumped as the target to the right swept the spear at his legs, he staggered as he landed back on his feet but remained diligent as his dragon companion tested him with a flurry of attacks.

The soldier parried the spear for another countless time and felt another spear graze the back of his neck, held in the grasp of the dragon's tail. Hezekiah had proven more resourceful than Goliath gave him credit, the dragon had hid his plan from the tamer, even with their bond it seemed Hezekiah was also capable of keeping his tamer out of his thoughts. This is finally getting interesting, Goliath thought as he anticipated the next attack.

Avoiding a series of attacks from the iron dragon from behind the wooden targets, Goliath dodged and tilted his body in the dance of the Encilian swordsman. The soldier reflexively assumed the dance the same way he did when he was a young lad dodging the blade of his late master of arms, each soldier and skilled fighter in Encilis trained and fought in a variety of styles, but they all had something in common, they all danced. Goliath heard his grandfather's words as they echoed in his mind as the man deftly moved around a spear and stabbed a target assailant in the torso, Mastering the sword is easy if you can master the dance. Goliath had watched many skilled men and women dance, and die. The sword dancer mustn't dance in a way that his opponent can predict, the dance must be forever changing, new steps adjusted and old moves utilized in the unending battle of surviving the whirlwind of blades.

Goliath had dispatched each of the targets, though it took a fair bit of time thanks to Hezekiah's relentless attacks with the energy of a dragon. The soldier was drenched in sweat, "I haven't had this good of a workout since Ylandre" he exhaled and turned to the iron dragon; who had already prepared his next attack.

In a split second the soldier's sword was knocked from his hand by a blunt arrow. Hezekiah stood deviously behind three more targets holding bows, <Archers have you in their sights!!>, the dragon shouted, Hezekiah felt a sense of excitement as he notched another arrow with his mouth behind the bow of the dummy archer several yards away. The dragon loosed another arrow in Goliath's direction, <How will the brave soldier defeat the archers without his sword?>, Hezekiah questioned within Goliath's mind through the bond.

Without bothering to bend down to pick up his sword, Goliath broke into a sprint. He strafed across the grass under the dimming light as the sun set and bolted as fast as he could toward the dragon and the pretend archers. Hezekiah aimed and loosed arrows at the sprinting soldier, but Goliath had no trouble moving out of their path. The blunt arrows bounced on the ground and spun through the air as the soldier picked up speed, his legs moved with increased momentum as he padded on the soft soil. When the man reached the archers, Hezekiah retreated as Goliath used his martial training to drive his fist into the center dummy archer's head and knocked down the other ones to the left and right.

Exhaustion had began to catch up with Goliath, he had trained nearly all day with the others trying to learn water mana and as the sun fell behind the hills, he fought against the wits of the iron dragon, and Hezekiah wasn't finished.

Hezekiah had two more dummies left, A mage, or... what appeared to be a mage. The other dummy beside the mage was wrapped in ragged cloak with long mossy hair, made of moss as it turns out. Hezekiah had fun making that one it seemed, he had spent time carving a face into the figure and had put a wildflower in it's hair for the final touch.

<OH GOOD HEAVENS! Ogual has the fair maiden in his greasy clutches!!>, Hezekiah shouted in a desperate tone, <How will Goliath stop Ogual from stealing her precious virtue!?>. In the voice of a dragon desperately trying to sound like a woman, Hezekiah cried, <Save me Goliath!... Ogual is so ugly and gross, he smells horrid and has really bad table manners!!>, the dragon was having too much fun now, he smirked and sent a crimson fireball from his mouth at his tamer.

Any onlooker would have laughed at the scene, but Goliath was not laughing as the fireball glowed in the shade of nightfall. The fireball crashed in front of the soldier and scorched the ground, "You cheeky bastard", Goliath whispered under his breath, his voice had a rasp in it from his last sprint. The soldier dashed forward as Hezekiah breathed another ball of fire and Goliath drew from their shared mana to dissipate the fireball. Goliath held out his right hand and his bonded mana shimmered into a dome around him as he ran toward the dragon, the mage, and the maiden. The second fireball collided with the dome and surrounded the soldier as the flames singed his surroundings, the fire did not break through the shield but Goliath could not keep the shield up for much longer. Paces away from the dragon and the targets, Goliath was knocked back several feet by another fireball and landed hard on the ground.

<Is this the end of Goliath Atreus?>, Hezekiah snorted, <If only Hezekiah was around to help the useless numb-WHAT!>, Hezekiah shouted in confused disbelief as Goliath stood and leaped at the mage target. Goliath yelled loudly and slammed both of his elbows into the head of the dummy and split the wooden head in half. The pieces fell from the dummy's torso anti-climatically.

Out of breath and tired, Goliath turned his body to the shocked iron beast, he tried to maintain his balance as he said, "Is that.... all.. you.. got", he smiled and collapsed under the light of the moon in the meadow.

---

Back at their loft, Hezekiah plopped Goliath onto the man's bed and removed his tamers boots. Moments later, the dragon left and returned with the maiden dummy and placed 'her' beside Goliath on the bed. With his mouth he slid the blanket over his tamer and the maiden the man had rescued.

<My hero>

 

[Rainjay]

[fieldbox="Saira, #48b5df, dotted"]

[dash=#800080]"It's quite alright," Saira said to Aislin with a smile, wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek. She couldn't imagine the mess she probably was in, but would deal with it later. A little mud was no problem. "It's in the nature of the game, after all!"

The groups continued practicing for awhile longer, until Terria dismissed them and left to go do gods-knows-what. Saira didn't pay it much mind--the Tetra's had their own occupations--and instead headed for the bath house, taking the free time to clean herself up after the water training. There was mud in her hair and on her clothes from the fall, and it would take time to wash it out. After scrubbing herself thoroughly clean, she spent some more time trying to play with water mana in the bathes themselves, pleased that she had some grasp of it, however basic, and then left to her loft to change and grab her bow. Water mana was fun, but she was ready to spend some quality time with her favorite weapon.

She slung the bow and quiver over her shoulders and set back out into the meadow. The targets she used were still in place and ready to go. With a few quick stretches, she set to work training.

--​

Collab
Narien x Saira​

Narien had vanished not long after they returned from the caves and spoke to the White Mare; and it had been a few days since Saira had seen him at her heels. The man who had in a single day turned into her shadow had vanished into the blue, right as she had begun to grow used to his being there. His reasons for trailing her so closely were unknown to her; perhaps it was because Merrik had named her his mentor. Her job was to help him acclimate to living here, not to serve as a social bodyguard or guide. His absence seemed to show that he now knew that, though a tickling worry still bothered her. She had isolated herself when first arriving. Narien might be harboring similar anxieties.

Whether or not it was actually her job to fix that problem, she was going to try anyways. If she could find him long enough to ask.

She was heading back from an evening of personal training when she stumbled into him--quite literally. Narrowly sidestepping Narien as he turned around a corner, she ended up against the wall of the stables, spouting off apologies. It wasn't until she shut up long enough to look and see who she'd run into that she noticed it was Narien.

Speak of the devil, she thought.

"Narien! Sorry, so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," she said. "Uhm, you are not currently preoccupied, are you? I would like a word."

Narien for the past few days had been training quietly with Agni. Following the training regimens given them by Merrik and continuously trying to keep up a small flame in everything he did, he had kept to himself and spoken to almost no one. He'd also been doing a lot of wandering around the grounds, observing the forest, exploring the library, and sometimes just aimlessly meandering. He had been meandering, his small, practice flame bobbing along with him, as he returned to the stables. When he turned a corner and Saira half-tripped, half-danced out of his way, his right hand snagged something, apparently on accident, from one of her pockets as she brushed so close. Dropping it almost immediately on the ground, he took a couple steps back as if to give her some space. "Erhm..." he mumbled quietly, but she was still too busy spitting off apologies for him to interject.

When she was done, he shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not preoccupied." He said, very very quietly. "B-but!"He hastened to add, "It's really okay. You didn't- even really bump into me." He looked down at his shoes, clearly hoping that was all she wanted to speak with him about, and, something catch his eye, quickly tried to change the subject. "I think you dropped something!" He blurted, pointing at the object on the ground - a crystal pendant. "I'm just- gonna go- Agni's waiting for me, and all, so-" Shuffling closer to the stable door, he made as if to escape.

Saira snatched at the pendant quickly, stowing it back in her pocket before grasping Narien by the wrist quickly, halting his escape. "Wait!" she exclaimed, hoping her tone was gentle and not as commandeering as she thought it sounded. His reaction to her only seemed to perpetuate her concern. Had she done something to make him feel so uncomfortable?

"I just want to talk for a moment," she said, releasing his wrist. It would do her no favors to be aggressive if he was already bothered by her. "We can go find Agni first, if you need to, but don't--" Her voice caught as she spoke and she cleared her throat before continuing to speak, "--don't just run away. Please. I just want to talk; I'm not going to flay you."

Awkwardly, Narien pulled his hand away from her, even though she'd already let go. "I'm not- running away." He said quietly, giving her an odd look of slight surprise and confusion. "Well... that is... it kind of depends on what you want to talk about. I didn't think you were going to flay me... it's just... I'm not really... good. Around people. Or, er, maybe it's more... I'm not really used to them." He turned to face her, no longer pulling away, though still shifting uncomfortably, as he was wont to do. "Do you... can we talk here... or.... Is it something that needs to be said in private?" He asked, in a kind of uncertain manner.

It was hard to tell if Narien simply wasn't a people-person as claimed, or if he really did have an underlying reason to act as he did. He and Saira together attempting to communicate was almost comical and directionless. Maneuvering around each other with words, trying not to say the wrong thing and hit a nerve.

"I was just a little worried. You sort of disappeared after we left the caves and I was wondering if there was something wrong. If that's private... then we can go find somewhere else to talk," she offered, glancing around the hall. It was empty, as far as she could see, though voices could carry in such a big, cavernous space. "Or we can go find Agni. Whatever's comfortable."

She hoped that she was approaching the subject the right way. Saira wasn't one for helping others, much. When she tried, situations only tended to grow worse. But it was her job to make sure Narien was settling. If there was something wrong, she would do her best to try and sort it out for him.

For just the briefest of moments, Narien's eyebrows shot up in surprise, then his face settled back down and he smiled at her, meeting her eyes properly for the first time. "That's kind of you." He said, quietly, eyes warm and words coming with much less hesitation than they had before, though still fairly slowly."I'm fine." He gave a sheepish laugh. "I didn't realize... that is. Like I said before, I'm not really used to... people still. So I didn't really think about the fact that..." He stopped, composed his thoughts properly, and corrected himself slowly, carefully coming up with every word. "Since the cave and everything, I've been trying to train harder." Another sheepish laugh, "Because I wasn't very useful, and all. I've been super focused on- practicing? Didn't realize that it seemed like I disappeared." He said, smiling at her again."Sorry but uhm, thanks for... worrying?" His hands continued to wrap around each other in a fidgety manner, but otherwise, much of the tension he had when facing her earlier had gone down. "I thought I was in trouble." He confessed, blurting the words out in a rush, then turning beet red at the childish admission.

"Oh, no, you're not in trouble! I'm sorry if I insinuated that," Saira said, hands out in apology. "Just worried. I'm... sorry if it's out of my place. Couldn't help it."

"So... You've been training on your own, then?" she asked, presenting her questions slowly now. She didn't want to break any boundaries, or stir up another similar reaction. An idea had come to her, though. An idea that might not be well received. What with Aerarya pestering her so frequently to be social, though, she was going to take the idea and run with it. There would be no harm in trying. "Or, well, maybe with Agni, I don't know. Training is better with others, you know."

"I, uhm, I'm not sure if I'd say you were useless. Truthfully, only those big on mana really seemed to have an impact, the lizards being undead and all. You did some handy things with that rope of yours. Quite clever, actually. It was in the stead of a blade, no?"

Then she hesitated, unsure. She wasn't sure if she could offer him anything in exchange for his help. What did a woman like her have to give? She would think of something, should he agree. If he didn't, there was no need to worry. Clearing her throat, she promptly asked, "Could you teach me?"

Narien continued to smile at her warmly and shook his head when she apologized. He gave another short, sheepish laugh, and replied quietly, "It was my fault for misunderstanding." He nodded in response to her question about his training, but when his eyebrows drew together slightly in confusion when she said, "training is better with others." What was she getting at? "I felt pretty useless." He mumbled to himself, without interrupting what she was saying. A light blush touched his cheeks at her compliment and he nodded rapidly in response to her question about the blade. That was when she paused, and he bit his upper lip, wondering if he'd done something wrong. He waited a bit more, then opened his mouth to try to answer her question more comprehensively, perhaps, in case she'd been waiting for a longer answer, but she cut him off with a question that had him closing his mouth and blinking in surprise.

"Teach you? You mean-" He pulled out his knife in an unthreatening manner, "how to use this?" He paused and swallowed, and said, "I don't know if I would be a great teacher or anything... I mean, I can try, but uhm. Well, yeah sure. But!" He took a breath, and managed to bumble out, "If we're gonna do that, could you teach me your-" Oh shoot, what was the word? "I mean, how to-" he made an odd sort of shooing gesture with his hands, "fire a bow and all? That seems much more handy than a knife...." The rest of his breath came out in a small rush of air to finish off his sentence, and a little of the nervousness that had built up during that request rushed out with it. He looked at his hands, and began conjuring his small flame again.

"Of course I can," Saira replied readily. She wasn't sure if she'd make all that good of a teacher, but she'd do her best to try. At least, learning off of each other sounded funner than it did alone. Straw dummies didn't give feedback. "And don't say that--I feel so useless in close quarters. What happens if someone comes at me with a sword? Block with my bow? I guess in theory I wouldn't ever get close enough to the enemy to find out... But theory doesn't always translate into practice. I started to learn how to dual-wield at the monastery, but I didn't get much time to practice, really. Blades are my weakest point."

"I don't suppose you'd like to begin now?" She was already gathering her hair into a ponytail, deftly tying all the fly-away strands back with a ribbon. Despite having just finished personal practice, she could do with more training. Sore and aching muscles were the usual, almost gratifying; it meant she had grown stronger. And, there were no breaks in war, after all.

"Alright." Narien said, his face a funny cross between a smile and a slight frown of concentration, his eyes going slightly glassy-eyed as he made the flame bigger and sustained it floating next to him again. "I'm no good with swords, either, though. Erhm. Can't use them. Just this." He waggled the short blade in his hand again. "They're kind of... different." He said, before throwing the knife up gently so that it made one rotation before landing deftly back in his palm. He did it in an absent-minded fashion, clearly not really thinking about it. "I'd be... okay with starting right now but... do you have your own knife? I mean, I have extras. In my room. I can get one for you if you like I just... y'know, it's best if you learn how to use your own weapon. More... comfortable with it already, I guess?" He mumbled his way through the last sentence, tucking the dagger away again, and still looking a little glassy-eyed from the concentration it took to keep the flame up and running.

"Uhm..." Saira thought for a moment before shaking her head. "The best I have are carving knives; like for wood. My brother had one that I used to play around with, gave me a feel for the small blade, but of course I didn't take it with me. If you could lend me one, that would be great, though I can probably find one for practice, too."

"Hold out your arms, would you?" She asked, waiting patiently until he stretched them out at his sides. "And you should quit it with that flame, if it's straining you so much. It's good, in moderation. But the stress probably isn't good for you right before training." She then examined his height, head to toe, and then his arm span, fingers to shoulder blades. The proportions of the carrier determined greatly what size bow he or she should use; the same as finding a blade of the right balance. "Alright. You should be able to use my bow. It is lightweight--I crafted it myself on the way to and from Ylandre."

Narien started towards the general direction of his room when she asked if he could lend her one, but stopped just as abruptly. "Actually, it'd probably be better if you didn't start with a blade in hand." He mumbled half to himself. He put his arms out in front of him, but then saw she was asking him to do something different. Flushing slightly, he held his arms up and away from him to either side. Rebelliously he kept the little fire burning, though he made it a bit smaller, a ghostly sliver of gleaming silver. "I'm not stressed." He said shortly, but kept it at that. His concentration on the present moment returned a bit. It was harder to start it than to keep it up. He looked at her as she evaluated his general size, staying awkwardly, uncomfortably still. He waited, and was relieved when she was done, letting his arms drop back to his sides. Her musing comment caught his attention, though.

"You made it yourself?" He asked, very pleased surprise lighting up his face. "That's a kind of knifework, too, you know. I like to make these shapes, I made one of Agni, or a couple actually, and-!" In his enthusiasm, the words had come tumbling out, but he stopped himself abruptly again, realizing that he was chattering, and again turning red briefly in embarrassment.

Saira smiled brightly at Narien. It was nice to see such a generous and whole reaction come from him for once. "I really only do bows and arrows, so I'd love to see what you've made, sometime. It sounds pretty cool." She paused, looking back at the bow that sat slung over her shoulders. The polished wood was marked with her attempts as such handiwork and art, little patterns etched into the curves of the weapon. None of it was particularly beautiful or elegant, but she was proud of the effort. "My sister really loves that sort of thing. I've always wanted to be able to make something for her. As a gift."

"Anyway," she said suddenly, turning to face out in the direction of the meadow. "If I'll start better without, then let's go."

She walked out into the open fields, the sky dim but brilliantly lit with stars above them, the moon shining with enough light to see the outlines of things. Altogether, it was horrible lighting for actual training; but as far as Saira was concerned, one had to begin with stance and grip before they neared shooting with a bow. Her father said it was best to get things right the first time, rather than learn it the wrong way and have to break stubborn habits. Not all mistakes are made equally.

Pulling the bow into her hands, she passed it to Narien. "Unless you'd like to begin teaching me, first?" she offered.

Narien's face lit up again. "I'll show you something someday." He said, a cheerful mood clearly setting over him at the thought. Whittling was one hobby Narien genuinely enjoyed and could be openly proud of. Anyone who had ever walked into "his house" back in Solona would have found it pretty creepy, because he had the floor covered in small wooden figures of people. Well, those he wasn't particularly fond of. He'd mostly made them TO creep people out, so they were largely very small figures of people in various positions of death or decay. Honestly speaking, they creeped HIM out a little, though less than they made him laugh, because there really WAS something funny about the expressions squatters made when they opened the door thinking they'd get a free place to sleep and instead saw the crude, but clearly dying wooden pieces completely covering the floor. It didn't deter everybody, but it did some.

At any rate, the ones he actually liked he'd taken with him, and were mostly animal forms. He'd made several (one or a couple was very much an understatement) of Agni once he'd met her, though he told himself that it was mostly because he couldn't get the unusual form completely right. "Your sister?" He ventured, as if without really thinking about it. It was invitation to speak more that she could easily ignore, as it wasn't a full question.

He took the bow and held it awkwardly in his left hand. "No." He said hastily, "You go ahead." A slight bit of the tension returned to his form, as he clearly had no idea what he was supposed to do with the weapon. Still, he'd rather be the learner first. He'd said he didn't have much experience being a teacher, and he'd meant it.

As with most things, Saira was happy to get the rough bit of this experience over with. She'd taught a couple of kids back home how to use a bow before she'd left, but the small children only wished to learn so they could mimic; they watched her and her brother train with delight in the city proper, unable to trail after their parents who served as watchmen and women. Teaching another to use the weapon seriously was a different manner. "Alright, then," she said, watching him take the bow. "Which is your dominant hand? It is the one you hold on to the string with. Keep both hands centered."

While she waited for him to adjust his hold on the weapon, she addressed his prior question. "I have a little sister. She lives with my family back home. Alya is her name. She never had an interest in hunting and archery; even when she was very little, she hated the thought of hurting an animal. But she's quite the aspiring artist. She takes after our mother, whereas my brother and I take after--"

The words caught in her throat. The memory of her father was one she seldom dredged up, and for good reason. Shaking her head, she offered a vague smile before stepping forward. "Mind if I adjust your stance?" Her touch light, she lifted his arms to be level to the ground and pressed down his shoulders. "Not so bad, for a beginner. Have you ever held a bow before?"

"I'm right handed." He mumbled to himself, but it didn't seem she really wanted to know the answer, more that he understand that he use it to pull the string. He held it and lifted the bow, mimicking what he had seen of her stance. As he pulled it up, he listened to her speak, surprised that she would share so much of herself so quickly to him, when he'd thought her more suspicious than that. At first, she seemed happy enough to be speaking, but she stopped abruptly at a sentence he assumed was meant to finish with "our father." A sensitive topic, then. He made no indication he had caught the slip, keeping his eyes on the bow in his fingers.

"Uhm... go ahead." He told her quietly, appreciating her asking permission to touch him, even though she was the one doing him a favor by teaching him something. He shook his head at her second question, though, responding with no more than a single, "No."

"Hmm," Saira continued to press lightly against his shoulders, manipulating his arms into position. "Right arm drawn back; don't be afraid of snapping the bowstring, but don't try and pull any harder than you need to. Just like that," She nodded her approval, taking a step back to again observe his stance. Maybe it was simply the training in a weapon, or in any form of combat, that gave somebody an edge in learning another. His muscles were unexpectedly relaxed and malleable. "Most people fight the stance," she said, thoughts trailing into words. "Accuracy and power comes with relaxation and confidence, but the muscles here," she placed a hand over those on his back, "and those on the neck become too tense. It makes it difficult to sustain any shooting position for long--plus, everything must be level. Understandably, it is hard to aim at an angle."

"Alright, now, there are three trademark lines that one must keep in mind when preparing for a traditional pose. Your core, of course, must be straight, aligned with the rest of yourself. Back straight, chin up. After that, you must imagine the line from you to your target--that tree right there," she pointed, "will be your target for now. That imaginary line will be perpendicular from you to that tree."

"Your shooting line is perpendicular to that imaginary line. Both feet must be parallel to it, your body turned to the side." Lifting her arms as though she too held a bow, she stood across from Narien and squared her feet across the imaginary line, spaced at shoulder length. "The biggest thing to note is that you don't shoot out; you position your arms across your body, along your line of sight. It is more stable that way."

Breaking her stance, she looked over his posture once again, watching him adjust. "Most of all, you must be comfortable. Don't strain yourself. Make adjustments as needed."

A lot of words came from Sairantha's mouth in a steady stream, but Narien listened attentively, catching it and pouring over each word, mulling it over in his head, visualizing the lines his body was meant to follow. Pulling his arm a little more in line with the rest of his body, trying to relax his shoulders and pull that tension into his back (however unsuccessful his efforts were), pulling his dominant arm back past his face and away from it, as he got the feeling that if the string was too close it would slice against his cheek. Was he doing this right? Probably not.

Don't rigidly tense up too much, and don't hold it for too long, if he was interpreting her correctly. For a moment, all need to be or think or say or act anything at all slipped away, as he focused on the weapon in his hands, and the alignment of his body, scanning himself up and down mentally to see if there was anything she'd said that he'd missed. He felt a little oddly pressed for time, with the knowledge that it was"difficult to sustain any shooting position for long." He pointed himself to the tree as best he could, recognizing for now that it was probably best not too worry so much about hitting the tree, and let the string go as he felt fatigue begin to set in to his right arm.

The string slapped hard against the soft underbelly of his left arm and his face twitched briefly in pain, jaw clenching slightly, but he made no more indication than that of how much it had hurt. Ignoring the red welt on his arm and the slight discomfort already beginning to set into the fingers that had been holding the string, he focused mentally instead on the technique of the shot. Too early? Too late? He hadn't waited for her to say it was okay to shoot. He let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and immediately looked at Sairantha, a sort of anxiety in his eyes.

Saira nodded as Narien turned her way, smiling in a way she hoped was reassuring. "That's good. The string does that less when there's an actual arrow on it." Pulling one from the sheath over her shoulder, she offered it to him. "You can try with one now, if you want."

Taking the arrow gingerly, Narien placed it against the bow, on top of his fingers. Then decided it didn't feel like he had enough control of it and switched it to between the first two fingers of his left hand. He looked at her again, as if praying for direction. Pulling the string back again, holding the back of the arrow between the first two fingers of his RIGHT hand, he tilted the string slightly closer to his face, still not quite letting it touch his cheek, but hoping that this would encourage it NOT to leave a nasty red mark in his left arm. When his arm began getting tired again, he let it fly. The string slapped him again, but less directly. Without dropped his stance, he turned to look at Sairantha again, his neck cradling around to stare at her slightly like a curious, and very anxious turtle. Again, he didn't bother looking to see if the arrow had hit. It felt infinitely less important at the moment.

Watching Narien prepare the arrow, Saira was silent. That was how she had learned; try first, correct later. He seemed a natural learner in many ways, already fixing his grip on the arrow without being prompted. Then, as she watched, he steadied himself and let the arrow go. It was difficult to see through the dark, but it had hit the tree, though very low down on the truck. But a hit was a hit.

The look he gave her then was strange--to see from Narien, anyways. He really was taking this seriously, she realized. "Good start," she said, stepping forward again as she pulled another arrow from the quiver. and passed it to him, gesturing for him to load it onto the bow. "Here's the trick with arrows. See this bit?" She pointed towards back, where there were two uncolored and one dyed feather attached to the arrow proper. "The fletching of the bow acts as a rudder; you can fire arrows without a feather backing, but if they begin to wobble, there's nothing to keep them from going entirely off course. With them, the arrow flies straighter. But the feathers easily get in the way. This colored feather," she pointed it out, "is meant to point out."

As she waited for him to spin the arrow appropriately, she turned her attention to his hand on the arch of the bow. "My old bow has a little notch where you should rest the arrow head, but I didn't put one here. If there is no notch, you have to rest it on your hand, right about here," She wrapped her hand around the bow at the appropriate spot. "Make sure to keep your thumb out of the way."

"Do you want to try again? And if the string keeps hitting your arm, I can get a padding for it." she offered.

Narien blinked at the arrow in complete silence. He had noticed that one feather was a different color, but he hadn't thought it meant anything. He twisted it until it was in the proper orientation, then adjusted how it rested on his left hand - on top of it, rather than between the fingers. He also realized with slight embarrassment, that he'd put the arrow on the wrong side of the bow initially. He adjusted it again, pulled the string back, and loosened his left thumb a little so that it wouldn't "get in the way." The minute he relaxed his thumb, he felt a little more comfortable, and he realized he'd been tensing his shoulder again. He tried to relax it again, letting out another long, quiet breath of concentration and scanning his entire body mentally to see what it felt like right now. She had said nothing about the string hitting his arm being bad, so he didn't adjust the string closer to his face again.

He now saw the last arrow in the dim lighting against the tree. It was lower than he'd wanted it to be, so he raised the bow a little, and then realized he'd forgotten his stance for a moment. Eyes narrowing very slightly, he adjusted the tension in his muscles one more time to match his mental image, and let the fingers of his right hand loosen just enough for the string to slip through them, an oddly natural motion. Again disregarding where it hit - and flinching a little as the string hit him just one more time - Narien looked at his mentor - and now his teacher - again. Though he had been silent this entire time, he spoke now. "No. It will callous." The words were quiet and toneless, certain and simple.

Was Narien's silence concentration, or just Narien being himself? The frequency with which his attitude changed startled her yet again, though she just nodded at his second attempt and spoke in regards to the activity at hand. "I'm not quite sure if you want a callous on your arm. But it's your choice. Personally, the blisters and callouses on my fingers are quite enough for me."

"Those are the very basics of shooting. It takes some practice before you can fire with any accuracy; you need to become attuned to the wind, the force you exert on the bow, the way the arrow should be angled. It takes some time," she said, and then added, "But you're doing very well for just beginning. I think you'll take to it well. If you'd like, I can bring over my second bow for you to use, or you could find a training one; again, your choice."

Quickly excusing herself, she went to the tree and retrieved the two arrows, gently working the heads from the bark so as to not damage the tree nor the arrows before she returned to Narien's side. "Do you want to try a few more times?"

While Sairantha spoke, Narien kept quiet, still listening to what she was saying, but when she was done, he hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "A callous is just your skin getting rough." Narien said, shifting slightly, a little more tone and expression returning to his form and face as the intensity of the moment wore off for him. "It's not... heavy. When you use a knife, you- you have to be fast. Like a... a padding, I don't think I'd like it." He explained a little clumsily, voice still on the quieter side, even for him. His next words were even more hesitant and equally slow. "If it isn't... a bother for you to lose your second bow? Would I be able to use it? Or... Or maybe you could teach me how to make one? Erhm- I mean- I guess that would be kind of... hardnevermind." The last two words were spoken in the same breath, becoming one word in and of itself, and he shook his head. "I- I would like to try a few more times but... but it is getting dark." He said, the words coming from a place of absolute truth, and a sincere sense of slight frustration tinging them slightly.

He held out her bow to her, then seemed to remember something, and added abruptly, "And!" He choked on the suddenness omf the word and had to recompose himself quickly by swallowing before saying, "And I told you I'd teach you how to use a knife, too!" The stammer got a little worse as the ideas, and subsequently the words, came out more quickly. "I- I- It's only fair, that is- I mean- you asked me first and I- It wouldn't be right if I- I- I wouldn't like to just- just be someone who is... erhm- ungrateful! Or... not... someone who... how is it? I mean, as in, I don't want to- uh- you know, tell someone that I would do something- and then- and then not do it." He finished with his cheeks slightly red, breath a little quick from the way the words had tumbled into existence.

What was she supposed to do with Narien? Half of the time, he exhibited cool confidence; the other half, he stammered more than Avren did. Saira couldn't tell if she was making him nervous, or if it just him. She didn't know how to help. So instead... she just continued on, as if nothing was strange about his behavior. "You can borrow my older bow while I help you make one of your own. If you do crafting on your own time, then making a bow should come rather easily. So long as you take it slow and careful, it's not too difficult."

She wasn't going to argue about the padding, although a callous on the inner arm was not the best place for a callous to be. Particularly when fighting, or extensively training, the slap of the bowstring on the arm was a painful thing. Of course, there were many times when she trained without. Years of practice eventually taught her how to release the string to mostly prevent it from happening. But she assumed it wouldn't take Narien all that long before he cracked and decided to use the padding. She just wouldn't force the issue.

"And you can teach me tomorrow night, maybe? It's getting a little too dark to see." She smiled, and gesturd back towards the hall. "Shall we?"

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[Soulserenity20]

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Nearly a week and a half had passed since the departure of the Queen Valaeria and the meeting at Tetra manor. The Order had been training vigorously and Merrik had seen great improvement in all the tamers. It seemed the newest of the bunch were settling in, the older tamers were gaining a deeper grasp of their roles in the Order and had begun to wear their titles of Tamers more naturally. With war now looming in the near future, the meadow had become less like the peaceful home it had been for the last 4 months and had taken on the form of a military camp. Merrik's expectations of the tamers had risen, those who were tardy would run extra laps, those who failed to meet expectations were no longer told to simply "keep working," rather they were made to forgo their personal time to make up for what they had not accomplished throughout the day. The reality of what lay in wait had become ever more present in the lives of the tamers.

It was merely two and a half weeks before the battle at Kuhl when Merrik summoned his Order with a bold order for them to carry out. He explained to them that there were weak points in their ranks that would likely cause casualties in the coming battle. He explain that he could not ignore these weaknesses and continue training as usual. He also explained that as their leader, he needed to know when it was time to accept the help of outside sources, those more suited to the specialized training he had in mind for them. In groups of 3 and 4, the tamers were Ordered to leave the protection of the meadow, without the support and safety of Merrik and the rest of the Order, to go and seek further training to help round off their skill sets.

He would then hand each tamer a small pair of gemstone with a swirling fluid inside. They were instructed to feed them to their dragons to offer immense mana-based boosts to their speed and strength to allow them to fly nearly twice their natural speed and with thrice the stamina of normal. Only with this aid, provided by Aglares through her old Elf magicks, could they reach their training destinations and return in time for the war. He quickly explained that the extended use of these magicks would damage the bodies of their dragons, for even with mana, they had limits. However, for the circumstances at hand, it was deemed acceptable to use these means to ensure the tamers and dragons were prepared to help reclaim the city.

Merrik gave them the rest of the day to prepare, and offered them any forms of protective wards they requests, before sending them off, leading his own group to the south west as the others head east. Merrik and Terria had mirrors to communicate, and Saira had been given a third to ensure communication with their own group.

After two days of flying, the first two groups would reach their destinations at the Stallion Tribe and the Forgotten Isles., and the next morning, the third group reached the rolling hills of Kona Petl. Their quests to strength and victory had begun. With little guidance to go on, they would move forward in their training and return as a stronger army.
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QUESTS

STALLION TRIBE[dash=white]
Avren, Saira, & Dalaith

While your skill in mana and ranged weaponry is great, you have been told by your leader that you are unfit to enter battle in the close quarters of a large city. Merrik is deeply concerned about your abilities to defend yourself without mana or distance to protect you and thus, has sent you to the great Stallion Tribe to train with the fierce warriors of the plains in close combat. You will be greeted by the great Chief of the tribe and his most elite warriors. Chief Ukura will give you further instruction on your training. Chief Ukura, wear dark, leather cloth, made from the hides of the most powerful stallions who were sacrificed when their lives had neared their ends. His hair is long, black, and braided back, but shaved on the sides, giving it the appearance of a horse's mane. No other in the tribe bears such a hair style, but all have long, flowing hair.[/dash]

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KONA PETL[dash=white]
Narien, Goliath, Illyria, & Requiem

Merrik has expressed a need for you to increase your dragon abilities. Each of you holds a powerful ability he sees as being particularly useful in this battle an as such, he has asked that you seek out the aid of the monks of Kona Petl and the Oracle himself to assist you in training your mana skills. You have been instructed to meet with the head monk, Koruba, at the heart of the Sky, a large center of worship in the community. Land there from your flight, in the center of the Dragon's Clutch and receive further instruction from Koruba. Koruba will be easily recognizable, for he bares a thick, fiery mane of red hair and a a short red beard. He wears no shirt and no shoes, only the traditional, baggy, white pants of the Kona Monks.[/dash]

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FORGOTTEN ISLES[dash=white]
Merrik, Aiko, Reverie, Aris, & Aislin[/dash]

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Merrik has sensed a disconnect in your personalities that may prove fatal, most especially in the case of mana corruption. He sees you as the greatest internal threats to the army and thus, has escorted you to the Forgotte Isles. It is here that you arrive at a small, worn down temple. Within the ruined structure you find a woman. The woman has icy blue eyes and a skin as black as the night sky. When you look closely, you see that she has been covered, from head to toe, in a pigmentation process that forces color into the very flesh of the individual. The blackness gives way only to pale, white runes that run along her arms, legs, and face. Her hair is white and knotted into dreadlocks like Avren's. She welcomes you to the Forgotten Isles and brings you into her temple where your spiritual journey will begin.​

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[White]

The disapproval on Reverie's face when approached with the gems for Celeste was a mix of shock and a spitefulness that would have probably terrified the common person. She truly hated the idea of harming her companion, her second half and therefore also herself and only after a conversation with Celeste she went along with it. The flight was indeed quicker and they landed infront of a temple on the forgotten Isles. Reverie felt quite uncomfortable being here, on the Forgotten Isles. It never really mattered to her before, but the name crossed her ear as an unknown and terrifying place, a place she might had been afraid of if her life for, had it been an innocent and safe life that she had.

Her face turned back to her companionship, the other member of the group of tamer she was asigned to. Her eyes first spotted Merrik, then moved on to Aislin and then to Aiko. She thought to herself that Aislin and herself are going to need to watch out for the newling as the... sort of practised in tamer, should they need to face what lies ahead together as a group. She again turned back to the entrance, following Merrik inside to a woman with eyes as blue as ice and a pigmentation of a skin that Reverie could not find the words to describe it with. This woman skin were covered in even weirder drawings, this included her face. A brief welcome leaves her lips and Reverie followed the woman into the temple.

Turning to the strange woman at an oppurtune moment, she inquired: "So...uh... how should I call you? And... what are we going to be doing here? What do we need to expect?"